Has anyone else recieved a letter from ford for a recall on there AU. I have a 2000 AUII forte wagon that is now under recall for for faulty "retaining hardware" on the steering rack. Can any one please tell me what the story is please as my nearest ford dealer is about 600km away. thanx in advance.

ps the letter read third and final notice however this is the first letter i've recieved (only brought the car in december)

I had the same letter (2000 AU II Forte Wagon) and had it done at a local dealer. The dealer told me there were two main bolts that hold the steering rack onto the car. In some situations these have come loose, which as you can imagine would not be good for steering. Their fix was to weld (yes weld) the bolt so it couldn't come loose.

Personally I think welding is a quick and dirty fix. What's wrong with using a sprung washer and some bolt glue, or getting another bolt which has a hole for a split pin ?

I had the same letter (2000 AU II Forte Wagon) and had it done at a local dealer. The dealer told me there were two main bolts that hold the steering rack onto the car. In some situations these have come loose, which as you can imagine would not be good for steering. Their fix was to weld (yes weld) the bolt so it couldn't come loose.

Personally I think welding is a quick and dirty fix. What's wrong with using a sprung washer and some bolt glue, or getting another bolt which has a hole for a split pin ?

I pretty sure that the problem was actually the captive nuts into which the rack securing bolts screwed - the welding was to make sure that the nuts were indeed 'captive"....

the problem was actualy the 2 studs that hold the rack to the ALLOY cross member if not torqued correctly broke the stud/studs. I believe the prob is a over tensioning prob that actualy pulls the thread out off the ALLOY CROSS MEMBER.WHAT I CANNOT believe is you are getting a recall now. is that they were recalled in victoria at least 8 months ago. CHEERS GREG

I got the same letter last Friday i went to my local Ford dealers and said it was only an half hour job but couldnt do it until the 12th of April and had to leave the car all day which basically means its a pain in the ass to organise to get it done.

I got the same letter last Friday i went to my local Ford dealers and said it was only an half hour job but couldnt do it until the 12th of April and had to leave the car all day which basically means its a pain in the ass to organise to get it done.

When I was at the dealers with my other AU when this recall thing started, the dealer said it would only take about 5/10 mins and offered to do it right there and then..

All they do is put some weld on the studs that hold the steering rack to the crossmember, the stud that hangs out on the inside...
It would make removal of the studs very difficult if it needs to be changed..
All this has come about because when the nuts that hold the rack get tightened too much, they actually make the studs turn and go loose..
I never had this performed on my ute, i had it up on a hoist and checked it out for myself, and because i dont get it serviced at a dealer, i do it myself, and they were fine, nice and tight, so no point getting it done..
But im not saying for anyone to not get it done, get them checked, just to make sure.

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